Focus: “Empowering Communities through Open Media Access”
Date: 1 December, 2012
DEF with a support from Ford Foundation organized the national consultation focusing on “Empowering communities through open media access” on the occasion of Manthan Awards Asia Pacific 2012 at India Habitat Centre to deliberate, discuss, share, experience and emerge with a concrete set of recommendations as how unlicensed spectrum in India can be used to serving the last mile connectivity.
The consultation saw stakeholders from the government departments, agencies, industry, civil society, academia, network implementers, policy advocators, wireless practitioners, and others to air views, opinions, inputs, concerns and suggestions on a wide area of topics. One unique approach was to present and share good practices and challenges in wireless network deployment and operations in India and other developing countries.
Workshop Broad Areas
In light of the above, the consultation discussed the following broad areas:
- Discuss the importance of free spectrum for public good and advocacy towards utilizing it for social development
- To understand the scope and opportunities of unlicensed spectrum in India and other developing countries
- The magnitude and extent of unlicensed wireless band/free spectrum can be used to connect isolated areas and communities of the country.
- Explore and understand the rights and ethics challenges and issues around unlicensed spectrum
Workshop Themes
The consultative workshop deliberated on the following themes:
- Access, rights & ethics
- Economic and social advancement of using wireless network
- Developing uniform policy framework for unlicensed spectrum
Workshop Objectives
Key objectives of the national consultation workshop identified were:
- Arrive at better understanding of unlicensed band, free spectrum and its importance to serve last mile connectivity
- To share good practices and challenges faced during the wireless network deployment and operations in India and other developing countries
- Deliberate on the need availability & challenges of appropriate wireless technologies to bridge access and connectivity divides
- To bring implications related to wireless, mobile & broadband technologies which help transcend traditional infrastructural bottlenecks in rural areas of India
- To emerge with working framework with necessary inputs, suggestions, comments, recommendations on ways to connect the government and business services that can reach the masses through the wireless and mobile networks in local languages and in oral medium
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